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The U.S. vs. John Lennon
Directed by David Leaf and John Scheinfeld
By Vish Khanna
Despite some VH1-esque moments, The U.S. vs. John Lennon is a well-crafted documentary that makes intriguing use of an astounding cast and inventive three-dimensional photography (reminiscent of The Kid Stays in the Picture) to explore the Nixon administration’s attempts to deport John Lennon and Yoko Ono in the early 1970s. If the writing initially over-contextualises Lennon’s life, it does serve to flesh out his integral transformation from rock’n’roller to folk activist. While the other Beatles mostly shy away from discussing the Vietnam War in the mid-’60s, Lennon expresses his discomfort with journalists who ignore the conflict. Inspired by his romance with radical performance artist Yoko Ono, Lennon’s later work in the Beatles (“Revolution,” “Come Together”) is pointedly idealistic and his belief in political freedom and the hypocrisy of war becomes more pronounced. The directors assemble an astounding array of subjects to contextualise the Vietnam fiasco and just how threatening Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance” was to the war-mongering White House. Policy experts such as Noam Chomsky and presidential candidate George McGovern highlight the gravity of the situation. Key activists from this period, such as Angela Davis, Tariq Ali and Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale, explain their positions. Even dicks like G. Gordon Liddy and Geraldo Rivera are captivating in their recollections. After aligning themselves with the Black and White Panther parties, Lennon and Ono received undue attention from J. Edgar Hoover’s F.B.I. and scurrilous Nixon aides concerned about the youth vote. Notorious U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond sets the wheels in motion to silence Lennon's protests about U.S. foreign policy; he suggests that Lennon be deported for an old drug charge the singer incurred in Britain. It was a pivotal moment in Lennon’s life (he eventually won the right to remain in NYC, where he was later murdered) and an ugly chapter in America’s persecution of high-profile dissenters, which the filmmakers render vividly.
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American Hardcore - Dir. by Paul Rachman
From 1980 to 1986, a relatively unknown explosion occurred in the musical underground of America. It didn’t produce any hit records or mainstream superstars in its time, but it did unleash one of the most visceral movements in modern day music, and, from what this film has to show you, a non-stop th
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Congorama - Dir. by Philippe Falardeau
A Canadian surprise, Congorama is well-acted, nicely shot and manages to be reasonably smart without getting aesthetically stupid. Dardenne brothers regular Olivier Gourmet stars as a Belgian inventor who’s been living in the shadow of his novelist father; imagine our hero’s surprise when he discove
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Fido - Dir. by Andrew Currie
Given this film’s combination of 1950s repression and flesh-eating zombies, I was ready for something sophomoric and cheap. Imagine my surprise at the unusually sustained romp it became, a fact rendered all the more shocking when you realise that it’s Canadian.
Set in an alternative past i
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Reg Harkema - Monkey Warfare
Just when you thought that Canada was good for nothing but Degrassi and Peter Mansbridge, here comes this short sharp shock from veteran editor Reg Harkema.
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The Fall - Dir. by Tarsem Singh
Unlike director Tarsem’s (best known for his work in advertising and music video directing) feature film debut The Cell, The Fall is a movie that you should actually watch with the sound on. It has the director’s singular visual flair and knack for choosing the most beautiful shooting locations on t
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2:37 - Dir. by Murali K. Thalluri
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A Good Year - Dir. by Ridley Scott
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A Stone’s Throw - Dir. by Camelia Frieberg
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A Sunday in Kigali - Dir. by Robert Favreau
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All The King’s Men - Dir. by Steven Zaillian
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Antonia - Dir. by Tata Amaral
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Babel - Dir. by Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu
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Bamako - Dir. by Abderrahmane Sissako
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Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan - Dir. by Larry Charles
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Bunny Chow - Dir. by John Barker
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Citizen Duane - Dir. by Michael Mabbott
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Colossal Youth - Dir. by Pedro Costa
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Dans les villes - Dir. by Catherine Martin
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EMPz 4 Life - Dir. by Allan King
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Exiled - Dir. by Johnnie To
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For Your Consideration - Dir. by Christopher Guest
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Hana - Dir. by Hirokazu Kore-eda
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I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone - Dir. by Tsai Ming-Liang
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Invisible Waves - Dir. by Pen-ek Ratanaruang
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Kabul Express - Dir. by Kabir Khan
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Kurt Cobain: About A Son - Dir. by AJ Schnack
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L’Homme de Sa Vie - Dir. by Zabou Breitman
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Lake Of Fire - Dir. by Tony Kaye
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Manufactured Landscapes - Dir. by Jennifer Baichwal
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Manufactured Landscapes - Dir. by Jennifer Baichwal
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Office Tigers - Dir. by Liz Mermin
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Offside - Dir. by Jafar Panahi
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Paperback Hero - Dir. by Peter Pearson
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Paris, Je T’aime - Dir. by Bruno Podalydès, Gurinder Chadha, Gus Van Sant, Joel and Ethan Coen, Walter Salles, Daniela Thomas, Christopher Doyle, Isabel Coixet, Nobuhiro Suwa, Sylvain Chomet, Alfonso Cuarón, Olivier Assayas, Oliver Schmitz, Richard LaGravenese, Vincenzo Natali,
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Radiant City - Dir. by Gary Burns and Jim Brown
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Remembering Arthur - Dir. by Martin Lavut
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Requiem - Dir. by Hans-Christian Schmidt
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Severance - Dir. by Christopher Smith
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Sharkwater - Dir. by Rob Stewart
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Shortbus - Dir. by John Cameron Mitchell
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Summer Palace - Dir. by Lou Ye
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Summercamp! - Dir. by Bradley Beesley and Sarah Price
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Syndromes and a Century - Dir. by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
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The Banquet - Dir. by Feng Xiaogang
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The Host - Dir. by Bong Joon-ho
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The Italian - Dir. by Andrei Kravchuk
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The Journals of Knud Rasmussen - Dir. by Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn
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The Killer Within - Dir. by Macky Alston
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The Lives of Others - Dir. by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
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The Namesake - Dir. by Mira Nair
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The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema - Dir. by Sophie Fiennes
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The Prisoner, or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair - Dir. by Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker
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The Spirit of Places - Dir. by Catherine Martin
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The White Planet - Dir. by Jean Lemire, Thierry Piantanida and Thierry Ragobert
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Trapped Ashes - Dir. by Sean Cunningham, Joe Dante, John Gaeta, Monte Hellman, Ken Russell
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Volver - Dir. by Pedro Almodóvar
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